Politics have reached an extraordinary juncture. Politicians, at least those with savvy, do not want to be in government.

Nobody saw Trump coming; nobody saw Brexit coming; nobody saw Sinn Féin coming. Shell-shocked media like headless chickens don’t know what happened or what to do or where to go.

Brian Cowen has apologised “as Gaeilge” and just like most of the things he did regarding the present economic situation, he has got it wrong.

There is a subliminal message in the CAP argument. CAP is to control and restrain agricultural production; it is to be replicated by programmes to control and restrain all other forms of production.